Apparatus for the application of variegated color coating to sheet material



R. D. WISENBERG APPARATUS FOR THE APPLICATION OF VARIEGATED Nov. 11, 1958 2,859,730

' COLOR COATING TO SHEET MATERIAL Flled July 25, 1955 IN V EN TOR. RALPH 0. Mas/waxes Arr-valve):

United States Patent Ralph D. Wisenberg, Coshocton, 0hio, assignor to EdmontManufacturing CompanyyCoshocton, Ohio, a

v .eorporation of Ohio Application July 25, 1955, Serial No. 523,989

1 Claim. (Cl. 118-415) This invention relates to an improved method and apparatus for applying variegated colored coating to a body of fabric, paper or the like. For instance, the present invention may prove useful in the coating of fabric from which gloves, aprons, etc. are to be made, so as to add to their appearance and thereby improve their sales appeal.

The general object of my present invention is to devise an apparatus for applying a coating of variegated color to a fabric or other material and which can be operated as long as may be desired.

A further object is to devise such an apparatus in which the colored pattern may be varied from time to time according to the effect that it might be wished to produce.

A further object is to devise such an apparatus with a knife form of coater to which the coating material may be supplied in various color combinations.

A further object is to devise such an apparatus by which there can be applied to a fabric or other material a striated form of coating of variegated colors.

A further object is to devise such an apparatus which comprises simultaneously operated mechanisms for providing relatively transverse movement of the coatingsupply and the material to be coated and in which the relative rates of speed of such mechanisms may be varied according to the result desired in the finished product.

A further object is to devise such an apparatus in which the relative supplies of a plurality of individual coloring elements may be varied according to the result desired in the finished coating.

The method here involved constitutes also another object of my present invention.

Other objects will appear from the following description and claim when considered together with the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a plan view present invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of part of the organi- Zation illustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view corersponding to line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 illustrates the general appearance of the striated form of variegated color coating that is applied to the fabric or other material.

In the accompanying drawing there is indicated a strip S of fabric or other material that is provided with means for moving the same continuously in a lengthwise direction, as indicated by the arrows. Any suitable motive means may be provided for effecting such travel of the fabric, etc., as for instance an electric motor 1 which has belt drive connection to the drum 2 upon which the coated material S may be wound after drying or drying and fusing of the same, the present organization including any suitable form of oven 3 through which the strip of material S rnight be passed following the coating operation. The strip of material S, that is to be coated, might be drawn from a supply reel 4 and moved over a suitable form of support 5. In order to produce a variegated pattern of colors, rather than a set pattern, I have devised illustrating one embodiment of my 2,859,730 Patented Nov. 11, 1958 ice the necessary form and arrangement of parts, as will 'now be explained.

Extending transversely across the support 5 are the parallel tracks 6- upon which a wheeled carriage 7 is adapted to be moved back and forth by any suitable means, 'as for instance an automatically reversible electric motor 8 and automatic reversing switches 8a and the belt connection 9 with thecarriage 7. The carriage 7 has mounted thereupon a plurality of containers 10 for coating materials of different colors, these containers having individual tubular outlets 11 for discharging the coating materials into the space provided between the transversely extending stationary knife 12 and the rearwardly adjacent stationary bank retainer 13 for the bank of coating materials 13a. The knife 12 and the bank retainer 13 are mounted upon the support 5 and are so arranged as to provide a slot for feeding to the fabric or other material S the coating that is supplied from the tubes 11 of the containers it As indicated in the present drawing, the containers for the color coating materials, as for instance blue, yellow and red, have discharge tubes arranged alternately with respect to discharge tubes from a container of white coating material. In this way there may be obtained a blending of the colors so as to produce various combined colors and shades. While white is of course not to be properly considered as a color, yet it is here so referred to as a matter of convenience; and hence the term color, when employed in a general sense herein including the following claim, is to be understood as not restricted to only the properly recognized colors but also may include white.

The shades of the colors may be controlled by the strength of the several pigments in the color coating materials and also by the amount of white employed therewith. In this way there may be obtained the particular color combination desired for any given product. For instance, the result may be varied from very dark colors to pastel shades. Not only may the intensity of the several individual coloring materials in the containers 10 be varied but also the discharge tubes may be provided with valves 11a so as to be able to vary the amount of supply from any container or to prevent entirely the discharge therefrom at any time. Also the bank 13a may be of different heights in different forms of apparatus according to the amount of mixing that may be desired in the blending of the colors for any coating apparatus. It has been found from actual experience that very desirable results are obtained by arranging the discharge tubes 11 so that their outlets are about from one to three inches apart. I have obtained very satisfactory results with a standard knife coater in which the coating colors are mixed and blended between the bank retainer 13 and the knife 12 in the manner above explained; and, while I have used plastisols as a coating solution in my prior operations with this invention, there may be employed other coating materials, as for instance organisols.

Thus I have devised a comparatively simple form of apparatus for providing a variegated multiple-color coating upon fabric, paper or other material so as to thereby provide an attractive appearance and hence increase the sales appeal of the product that is made therefrom, as for instance gloves, aprons, etc.; and my present form of device is capable of extensive variations in the result to be obtained so as to thereby expand its range of application and hence its practical value in the industry.

What I claim is:

A coating apparatus comprising means for moving a web of material continuously in one direction, a stationary blade and bank retainer arranged entirely across and transversely above the path of movement of the web of material and closely adjacent thereto and with said bank retainer spaced rearwardly of and adjacent to said blade so as to provide above the path of movement of the web of material a trough with a narrow slot entirely thereacross for feeding a coating to the web of material therebeloW and for gauging the thickness of the coating, a

, plurality of individual containers for separate colors with individual means arranged above and along said trough and movable transversely above the path of movement of the web of material and entirely thereacross for depositing multiple individual colors separately and simultaneously from said containers into said trough, and means for reciprocating said depositing means back and forth along said trough and simultaneously with the movement of the web of material so as to effect a blending of References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 430,707 Strahan June 24, 1890 1,394,444 Reed Oct. 18, 1921 1,726,055 Campbell Aug. 27, 1929 1,782,107 Teague Nov. 18, 1930 1,882,714 Angier Oct. 18, 1932 1,968,279 Bracewell July 31, 1934 

